The Effects of Aronia melanocarpa Extract on Testosterone-Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Rats, and Quantitative Analysis of Major Constituents Depending on Extract Conditions

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the beneficial effects ofA. melanocarpaon testosterone propionate (TP)-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in Wistar rats. Moreover, the bioactive constituents in the extract were determined using LC/MS and HPLC analyses. The dried fruits ofA. melanocarpawere extracted using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) under different extract conditions (temperature, 30 degrees C or 100 degrees C; extract solvent, 60% or 100% ethanol) to yield four extracts (T1 similar to T4). Of the fourA. melanocarpaextracts, T1 extracted under the condition of 100% ethanol/low temperature (30 degrees C) exhibited the greatest inhibitory activity on TP-induced prostatic hyperplasia in rats. The administration of T1 (100 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) for six weeks attenuated TP-induced prostate enlargement and reduced the levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and 5 alpha-reductase in both serum and prostate tissue. The suppression of PCNA mRNA expression in prostate tissue was remarkable in T1-treated rats. In LC/MS analysis, the levels of main anthocyanins and phenolics were significantly higher in T1 than in the other extracts. Furthermore, the quantitative study showed that the contents of cyanidin-3-glucose and cyanidin-3-xylose in T1 exhibited 1.27 similar to 1.67 and 1.10 similar to 1.26 folds higher compared to those in the other extracts. These findings demonstrated thatA. melanocarpaextract containing anthocyanins as bioactive constituents attenuated the development of testosterone-induced prostatic hyperplasia, and suggested that this extract has therapeutic potential to treat prostate enlargement and BPH.